Prior exam and discussion questions

The following are presented in no particular order.

(1) Agree or
disagree with the following statement: in lesser developed
countries (LDCs), degradation of environmental resources is a
necessary consequence of economic activity. After you state and
defend your position, suggest some long-term outcomes
(environmental, economic) for people in LDCs.

(2) Aquaculture has
been practiced for millennia, yet it is not as well developed as
agriculture, nor is it as important a human institution as
agriculture. Discuss the reasons why this is true and suggest how
the contribution of aquaculture to world food supply could be
increased.

(3)You are the
director of the government's natural resources program on Oyster
Island, an area of long-standing, traditional shellfisheries. Your
charge is to see that the best possible uses are made of the area's
natural resources while protecting these resources from damage. The
proponents of aquaculture want to privatize underwater lands for
production; the baymen oppose this on the grounds that these are
resources held in common by all citizens.

Answer two questions
about this scenario:

(a) If this is a
democracy, what steps would you take as elected director of the
governmental program, to resolve this conflict? Why?

(b) If this is a
dictatorship, and you are in full control, what solution would you
decree to resolve the conflict? Why?

(4) Explain the role
played by self-interest in creating the "tragedy of the commons."
Illustrate with examples from marine fisheries or coastal
aquaculture.

(5) Changes in land
tenure (ownership) led to substantive changes in agriculture in the
1700s. Have there been similar changes in aquaculture? Why or why
not?

(6) Should developed
nations pressure less developed countries to conserve their natural
resources if conservation slows economic growth in the less
developed country? Explain your reasoning.

(7) Thirty-four
western hemisphere nations just signed an agreement to establish
the Free Trade Area of the Americas. In a related action, the
"CONCAUSA Declaration" was signed by the US and seven central
American countries. You were given most of the texts of these
agreements on Tuesday. Reexamine the Declaration of Principles and
the CONCAUSA Plan of Action, especially the section on
"environmental legislation."

Write a critical
review of the environmental portions of the "Principles" and "Plan
of Action." You may elect to review environmental sections of the
full agreement, all subsections, all plans, or you may elect to
focus on one or two specific areas. Whatever level you choose to
work on, you should review the value of the goals of the agreement
and the plans to achieve them. For example, are the goals worthy?
Attainable? Will natural resources in these countries fare well
under these plans?

(8) In the next
fifty years, you will face the tragedy of the global
commons - a classical and worldwide no technical
solution problem. Increases in the human population will
outstrip food supplies, and reduce environmental fitness to support
current levels of food production. You can imagine many outcomes;
few if any are positive.

In the space
provided, either (1) explain why this scenario is not true, or (2)
explain how you, personally, acting at a local level, will react to
or prevent this situation.

(9) In both sessions
of the Fish Banks Ltd board game, the fish populations were
overfished. Name some actions that might prevent overfishing in the
real world.

(10) On what bases
did McCay say the New Jersey shellfishermen justified their acts of
piracy?

(11) What
characteristics of rural, atomistic societies make resource
conservation difficult in these communities?

(12) Define
spawner sanctuary

(13) Define
intensive aquaculture

(14) The Holling
model was described in the paper titled Modeling Complex
Ecological Economic Systems. Holling proposes four basic
functions common to all complex systems, and a spiraling
evolutionary path through them. Put labels on the attached graphic
to identify these four functions.

(15) Under what
ecological circumstances might a public aquaculture program (a
hatchery, for example) succeed or fail?

(16) Some suggest
that cooperation doesnt work in managing natural resources -
that we must either privatize our resources or centralize
management in a powerful government. If you had to pick one or the
other approach - privatization or centralization - which would you
pick for managing a long-standing, traditional shellfishery on the
US east coast?

(17) Marx and Engels
(cited in the Tisdell reading) proposed that technological progress
would fuel increases in production, resulting in unlimited economic
growth, overcoming the limits imposed by nature. Today, the notion
that economic growth can sustained and unlimited is challenged from
a variety of ecological perspectives. Identify and briefly explain
several.

(18) Bailey
suggested improved extension (advisory) and credit (financial)
services as means to help small-scale producers of shrimp in Latin
America. What set of problems was he trying to solve with this
recommendation?

(19) Aquaculture is
unlikely to satisfy the nutritional needs of the world's growing
populations. Why? What contributions might aquaculture make to
humankind?

(20) Describe how
aquaculture and fisheries are interdependent.

(21) You are the
director of the natural resources program on the south shore of
Long Island, an area of traditional shellfisheries (remember the
"Dutchmen on the Bay"). Your mission is to see that the best
possible uses are made of the area's natural resources while
protecting these resources from damage. The proponents of
aquaculture want to privatize underwater lands for production; the
baymen oppose this on the grounds that these are resources held in
common by all citizens. In a democracy, what processes would you
propose to resolve this conflict? If you could decree a solution to
the conflict, what would be your recommendation?